Okay, shadetree mechanics, I'm on the prowl for some advice [View All]

My brother's car died yesterday on the way to work... it's a '98 Mystique with I think about 140k on it. 2.0L I-4, 4-speed automatic.

He was about halfway through the 20-mile drive from his apartment to his work when all of a sudden his engine just died. He managed to pull over safely (city streets) and tried to start the car again. No luck... engine won't even turn over. So he calls AAA, then calls me. Fortunately, he'd broken down only about 1.5 miles from the house, so I hustled over there to see if I could give him a hand before the hook arrived.

I popped the hood and had him hit the ignition. I could hear the starter whirring, but the engine did not move an iota, not a single second of a single degree of rotation of the crankshaft. I had him try a couple of more times, each time all we got was the starter whirring down in the engine bay someplace. So that means the starter isn't engaging the flywheel anymore, i.e., time for a new starter.

I brought out the owner's manual and checked the interior and exterior fuse boxes, inspecting all the fuses that might have something to do with sudden engine or starter failure: ignition, computer, starter, etc. All were fine. I also pulled out the related relays and looked and smelled for burning plastic. No obvious signs of failure.


I don't have a good reason why the engine would just cut off like that. My brother swears the car was working just fine... no catastrophic noise or performance loss before it bit the big one.


My operating hypothesis is this: when he started the car that morning before he left for work, the starter failed to dis-engage from the engine's flywheel, thus dragging continuously on the engine and being over-revved as my brother drove around town. This would explain the starter failing 15 minutes later.

I tentatively put before the Lounge the idea that the over-revving of the starter may have also transformed the starter from an electric motor to an electric generator and overloaded/damaged the electrical system. However, it seems to me that by turning the key from "Start" to "Run" after the engine caught that morning, the electrical system would have been isolated from the over-revving generator.

Anybody have any ideas on this? Advice would be greatly appreciated.